


starcrossed

by prinecssleia (jensenackals)



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Reylo Oneshot, VANITY FAIR MADE ME DO IT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 18:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18922216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jensenackals/pseuds/prinecssleia
Summary: a stormy fight in a half sunk deathstar(listen to the black and white by the band camino on repeat for the full effect)





	starcrossed

 

 

***

 

Waves roared and crashed as Rey ducked into the wreckage. The wind whipping through the ravaged metal sung with finality. The ship was long dead. Every surface warped and perverted beyond recognition. 

The darkness beckoned to her, luring her deeper into the ruins. It felt strangely familiar. The heat and desert air replaced with the swell and rage of the ocean, but her goal was the same. Salvaging broken things. 

Beyond taking in the barest sense of her surroundings, Rey kept her focus forward. She knew he was here, could feel him. His presence overwhelming even the strongest of the gale force winds. 

There was something else here too. Something in the heart of the ship that was its own master, something that was kindling a fury completely separate from the swirling emotions at the other end of the force-bond.

A sharp lash of malice pelted her awareness and Rey pulled her senses back in shock at the same time a wall of surf battered the metal beneath her feet. Even in her distracted state, she felt the wave before it hit and barely had enough time to brace herself against the hull in an effort to avoid being swept away in the surge. Sea water drenched her hair and tunic, the salt stinging her eyes and nose.

Rey allowed herself two quick breaths to center herself. Delaying the inevitable would just make it hurt that much more. She had to face him. She had to.

Taking off down the chasm once more, she let the Force guide her steps. Felt the light wrap itself around her and calm her racing heart. 

She would meet whatever was ahead.

In less time than she would have thought, Rey came to a massive opening. There was barely enough light to see the wall of steel across the half submerged space.

She could see him though. Standing with his back to her, his head bowed and his lightsaber disengaged in his gloved hand. 

There was no outward indication that he knew she was there, but Rey felt his faltering resolve as she took another step closer. 

"I didn't come here to fight you." Rey murmured, her voice barely audible over the howl of wind and water. 

His voice was softer than she'd expected when he replied. "Then what did you come for?"

Rey swallowed. Despite the humidity and her soaked clothes, her throat was rather dry. 

"This place," He said, slowly turning to face her. His eyes darted everywhere but refused to land on her. "It's been calling to you for months."

Rey clenched her fists in an effort to keep her hands from shaking. 

"I know it has." He continued, his gaze coming to rest on her waterlogged boots. "Because it's been calling to me too."

Rey stared at him as he stared at her feet. 

For a year, they'd stayed silent during the moments when the bond opened and they caught a glimpse of each other across the galaxy. Both of them ignoring the rush of sensation and shared emotion during the fleeting seconds of their strange connection. 

But here he was, speaking and solid and real in front of her. Rey thought she would burst with the indignation of it. He was supposed to be her salvation. Her liberation from the solitude that had plagued her life thus far. _She'd seen it_. He was supposed to be whole and healed and standing next to her.

Not whatever this adversarial relationship was. Not with the threat that one of them might be the stroke to end the other. Not with the knowledge that ending one of them, would most likely be the end to them both.

A rush of ocean spray spewed behind him, and the platform they were standing on rocked with the impact of it. Rey felt the malice again, the hatred, and horror pulsed through her veins as she realized it was unfurling in the very water beneath them.

Rey barely had time to register the alarm mirrored on his face when another wall of water rose up even higher and pounded into her back. 

With nothing to hold onto, Rey was sent careening into the waist deep water.

The currents caught her end over end as her body slammed into the ship's remnants. Her lungs were burning and the lack of oxygen disoriented her enough that she didn't know which way was up and which was down. Kicking out with her feet, Rey tried desperately to gain some sort of awareness.

The wave was receding, pulling her off the raised platform and into the depths. Rey sent one last attempt out through the force to push herself out of the water, but it barely left the deep space in her chest when it faltered and vanished. 

Instead, Rey felt an ironclad grip wrap around her wrist, pulling her back to the surface as the water ebbed quickly around her. She held on with equal intensity until her head finally broke the surface. Gasping and sputtering, Rey's knees connected with solid metal once more and she sucked down as much air as she could in between coughs.

The force rushed back to her as her head cleared. Never had it failed her and she couldn't help but think that something had blocked her own abilities. 

A different sort of awareness came to her too, an awareness of the warmth spreading from where his gloved hand still clenched her wrist. 

Rey's breaths were still coming in pants as she looked up and found his familiar chestnut eyes boring into hers. They were barely a breath apart. 

_He'd saved her._

She had only just registered the thought when the scaffolding beneath them rocked again.

They stood in unison, feeling the phantom beneath them move once more. 

" _Too many years,_ " A throaty whisper echoed around them. " _I have waited for you, young Skywalker._ "

The voice was too cold, too ancient. It sent chills down her spine, all the way to her toes. The only defense she had was to pull her saber from her holster and ignite it.

" _Foolish girl_ ," The whispers continued, echoing in Rey's mind as much as off the wreckage. " _That will do you no good here._ "

Rey heard Ben's red crossguard scream to to life as well and a sickening chuckle pierced their surroundings. Wind whipped past them, stinging her face where the mist froze against her skin. 

The blast of air settled just to her left and the sea mist took on a darker shape. The shape of a man with billowing robes and yellow eyes. 

 _"She can't love you-_ " The shape whispered before Rey cut through it, only for it to vanish and reappear on Ben's other side. _"She could never love you._ "

Ben slashed violently at the revenant before it had even finished speaking, although the words still reverberated around them.

 _"Only I can show you your true potential._ "

The mist once again took shape, this time between the two of them and their sabers cut from either side, screeching and sparking as they met in the now empty air. 

 _"So be it-_ " 

Their sabers were still locked when Rey felt the change come over her. The air seemed to shimmer and shift, followed quickly by a torrent of darkness vibrating its way into her body. She clenched her eyes shut against the onslaught of fire burning through her veins. She couldn't bare it, heat sizzled through her, leaving nothing but pain in its wake. Distantly she heard herself let out a soft moan of pain and her saber pushed against Ben's.

 _Kill him._ The voice echoed behind her eyes and she felt her saber inching forward without Rey fully grasping what was happening. 

There was nothing she could do to combat the abyss that was threatening to overtake them both. She let out another groan and felt herself struggling to keep upright, even though the pressure bearing down on her arms seemed to strengthen. 

Then, just as quickly as as her anguish had started, the fire ebbed. Leaving hot coals simmering low in her belly. She opened her eyes and her vision was tinted red. 

Fear shot from Ben through the bond like laser blast and he quickly pivoted away, putting space between himself and the person who was no longer Rey. 

 _Kill him._ The voice said again, softer this time, like a caress. _He doesn't care about you, the only reason he killed Snoke was to make himself Supreme Leader. He betrayed you, he crushed the resistance. He massacred villages, reduced Takodana to rubble. He killed his own father!_

Water erupted around them, waves cresting and crashing against the dais as Rey stalked after him. She could feel the raw power radiating outward from her own consciousness. The more of the Force she channelled, the more elation she felt. 

Something was tainting her soul, turning it black. 

She gave Ben the smallest moment to push out his senses before her saber arced towards him. Blow after blow his sins were recited in her head. Reminding her of every reason that he was wicked and vile and cowardly. They were sparring as she never had before, feeling the Force heave and pitch between them. Where she cut he blocked, where she jabbed he blocked, where she thrust he blocked. Ben was steadily losing ground on the sheer fact that he wasn't fighting back.

Her mind whirred, trying to solve the problem within the problem.

They clashed again and this time, there was so much power behind her stroke that Ben almost lost his grip on his weapon.

_Kill him._

"Rey-" Ben groaned through clenched teeth. "You have to fight it."

His words lanced their way through the fiery fog but a moment later they were forgotten, burned away to ash. Rey pushed against him harder, forcing him to take a step back, a step closer to the edge, a step closer to the raging sea. 

Rey's every muscle strained to push Ben over the edge, but something else was pushing back. 

A kernel of light sailed down the bond between them, its cooling presence almost overwhelmed by the inferno blazing within her.

"Rey," Ben was faltering, collapsing even as he attempted to wrap himself in light. "Please, you have to fight it-"

She blinked rapidly, feeling the first moments of indecision. Ben was barely holding on, his eyes locked on hers and in them she saw flashes of the vision once again. The two of them standing on a cliffside. The sun rising in the distance. Rey's hand firmly intertwined with his. The feeling of rightness and belonging seeping into the place between her lungs. The unburdened contentment etched onto Ben's handsome face. 

The voice roared in her head over and over _KILL HIM!_

"No!" Rey cried. She dropped her form and disengaged her weapon at the same time Ben's legs finally gave out. Deep inside, she reached for the light and let it guide her back to sanity. Vaguely, she felt the apparition pounding on her mental walls. Attempting to find a crack or a weakness to resume commanding her emotions, but Rey didn't waver, the steel surrounding her heart held fast. 

The water sloshed up to her waist as she dropped to her knees. Her hands danced frantically over Ben's arms and chest to check for injuries.

"I'm fine," He said batting her away. "We have to get out of here."

As if on command, the water began churning, rolling and cresting to gain momentum once more. 

Ben clipped his saber on his belt and attempted to stand, only to splash back into the water on his hands and knees. Rey could feel how weak he was. How drained he'd become fighting the dark presence mentally while taking her on physically. 

Without asking, Rey grabbed his arm and draped it over her shoulder, her other arm circled his waist to help him up. Their first few steps were slow going and they barely missed a small tidal wave before finding the opening that would lead them back up and out of the wreckage. 

"How did you do it?" Ben asked, his voice stunted. “How did you break free?”

"I don't know," Rey lied, feeling more than seeing their path to freedom.

Ben gave her a look out of the corner of his eye and after a few moments he spoke again. “What did he say to you?”

Where they stepped wobbled and Rey almost sent them both crashing to the ground.

She readjusted Ben's arm on her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter.”

They lapsed back into silence. The only sound between them was their labored breathing. Ben's weight was becoming harder and harder to support but Rey did her best not to let it show. They were almost out, she could see grey skies ahead. 

"He spoke to me too," Ben placed his free hand over where Rey's gripped his side and slowed them to a stop. "He told me I never should have trusted you. He told me that when I asked you to stay, you left, and that you would always leave. He said that you could never care for me, after everything I'd done."

Rey let out a hard breath but didn't meet his gaze. She didn't have to support so much of his weight when they weren't moving and she could feel every point of contact where his arm was around her shoulders, where his side pressed against hers.

"Rey," Ben asked, his tone searching. "Was he right?"

She swallowed hard as she looked up into his dark eyes, and _stars_ she could feel every part of him. She could feel his heart beat in his chest. She could feel his lungs expand and contract with each shallow breath. She could feel his blood pump through his veins. She could feel his life force flowing between them. She could also feel how his very existence in the universe would hinge on her answer. 

"No," She breathed, allowing the long buried feelings to claw their way to the surface of her heart. "No, he wasn't-"

His arm tightened around the back of her neck and her words were cut off as his lips crashed into hers.

Rey's shock gave way to surrender as the sensation spread through her, warmth spreading from every point where he was touching her. Whatever she had expected, maybe the Force roaring in their ears or the sky breaking open in protest, rang false as the world went quiet around them. The dead ship going still and silent. Rey allowed herself to sink into the feeling of kissing him, finally understanding what it meant to taste someone and know you will never get enough. 

He kissed her again, and the feeling of being breathless, of being weightless, had never been so welcome. Even with her eyes closed, her awareness seemed heightened. Rey felt him move his other hand to her waist to pull her closer, forcing her to take another half step toward him so their bodies melded as seamlessly as their lips. 

Not to be outdone, Rey moved her hands up his chest and knotted her fingertips in the soft waves at the nape of his neck. Seconds or minutes or hours could have passed and she wouldn't have known the difference. Is this what the absence of loneliness felt like? This feeling of being one half of something finally made whole? If so, she was never letting him go again. 

Rey felt the Force then, swirling in an easy rhythm around them. It was so strange, the energy flowing around, through and between. It seemed to hum with the rightness of it.

They broke apart, both breathless, and Ben leaned his forehead against her own.

"It was you," Rey said, squeezing her eyes shut and breathing him in. "That thing.. It kept telling me to kill you and I couldn't. You're the reason I escaped whatever he was doing to me."

Ben kissed her gently on the forehead and Rey sent as much strength as she could muster through the bond. She felt him shudder as the Force obeyed, sharing her stamina between the two of them. 

"This isn't over," Ben murmured into her hair. "Whatever he is, whatever is down there. He wants me for something."

"Then we'll get to him before he gets to you." Rey said simply.

That little furrow remained between Ben's brow, but he nodded just the same. 

**Author's Note:**

> don't mind me, i'll be flailing until december
> 
> find me on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/prinecssIeia)


End file.
